Canadian Culture

“Preservation of one’s own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for other cultures”-Cesar Chavez (n.d). This is the concept that we have learned in the Intercultural Health Issues subject. Being nurses we should respect each other’s culture and should provide culturally sensitive care. Culture is a set of beliefs, customs, arts, values, and behaviours shared by a group of people. Studying culture is important because it helps to avoid any unsatisfactory outcomes and to provide culturally sensitive care. It is also significant to avoid stereotyping and essentialism. Studying this subject has brought many new changes in my personality and has increased my knowledge about Canadian culture and nursing in Canada to a great extent. This
Firstly, here clinical learning is independent, students are responsible for their own growth, and they need to find the opportunity to learn by themselves. However, back home the situation is apparently change. There, teachers are running behind every student so that they can perform a skill or they can observe any procedure so that they can learn something new. Secondly, here instructors trust their students very much. Students have liberty to perform any task which instructor think will be safe for patients. To illustrate, currently I am doing my clinical practice in St. Mary’s Hospital and we are allowed to administer medications to patients individually and our instructor just co-sign our signatures. On the contrary, back home we were not allowed to touch any medication without direct supervision of our instructor. Teaching is considered as those professions where teachers assist students in developing good and effective competencies of learning and prepare students for future growth (Smith & Sela, 2005 as cited in Mustafa, 2008). Thirdly, here nursing documentation is online and is paper less. Conversely, back home it is entirely paper based. Thus, change in clinical practices in Canada has brought proficiency in me and has helped me to develop confidence to work
One of the difficult tasks for me was to give the intercultural presentation in front of my colleagues and instructor. According to Jarvis & Algozzine (2006, as cited in Mustafa, 2008) “Presenting a topic is more than standing in front of a group and telling them what you know”. Before conducting my presentation, there were some assumptions in my mind and I was preoccupied with some thoughts like will I be able to deliver content to my colleagues effectively and what if I will not be able to answer their questions? Delivering presentation is a continuous and developmental process, therefore presentation styles are not something one gets and learns at one time. It’s a thing which one can acquire and improve through their daily experiences (Bubb, 2003 as cited in Mustafa, 2008). Hence, by understanding this phenomenon I made up my mind and tried to resolve my anxiety level by realizing that one cannot be perfect in all the things as we are humans, thus we cannot know each and everything while entertaining anyone’s questions but through honest attitude, participation and taking initiatives, we can always improve our skills. Hence, on the day of my presentation, I started my session with a great confidence and I was competent enough to implement good teaching techniques by using appropriate body posture and gestures. Although anxieties